‘Zombies 3’ Review: Take Me to Your Cheerleader

In “Zombies 3,” directed by Paul Hoen, an interspecies utopia faces an alien invasion. Like the franchise’s previous allegories for marginalized experiences — the zombies of “Zombies” and werewolves of “Zombies 2” share hardships with Black and Indigenous Americans, respectively — this one is dubious at best.

Zed (Milo Manheim) hopes to become the first zombie to go to college, while his girlfriend, Addison (Meg Donnelly), is eager to lead her cheer squad to victory. But Zed’s college dreams and the cheer championship are thrown into chaos when aliens descend upon their peaceful town.

“These aliens are here to take what’s ours,” laments Addison’s vapid cousin, Bucky (Trevor Tordjman). That’s right — the aliens represent undocumented immigrants! Having apparently learned nothing in the last two movies, the citizens must learn to accept another group of outsiders.

This is not your mother’s Disney Channel, and thank god. All of the “Zombies” movies are brimming with camp delights, as though the crew watched “But I’m a Cheerleader” while dropping acid. This is particularly true for “Zombies 3.” The sets and costumes are awash in pastel pinks, blues and greens. One pivotal conversation ends with a woman ripping off her wig. RuPaul Charles even voices the aliens’ mother ship.

But while “Zombies 3” offers a gonzo aesthetic and radio-ready pop songs, it clumsily tackles social issues. The movie features a nonbinary character, the alien A-Spen, played by Terry Hu. While it’s nice to finally see queer characters in this extremely flamboyant franchise, A-Spen’s introduction raises more questions than it answers. Why is the only character to claim a nonbinary identity an alien? Why would aliens have a gender binary in the first place?

If you watch this with your favorite young people, be warned: There’s a lot more here than just 90 minutes of silliness.

Zombies 3
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Watch on Disney+.